When naturalist Liz Goetz ﻿leads the “Walk and Draw” hike at Daley Ranch, she packs her satchel with sketch pads, sharpened pencils and a few tricks. Artistic experience isn’t necessary, just a desire to tread the winding trails and notice nature in new ways.

Daley Ranch stretches across more than 3,000 acres, with its distant boulder-studded mountains, tall Engleman oaks, fragrant manzanita and coastal sage. Even an experienced artist would have a hard time deciding upon a place to start.

So, Goetz brings three different sizes of mat board frames and holds them up against the horizon until a living picture fills the space.

“I made frames for people to look through because the landscape can be kind of intimidating,” Goetz said. “You look out and think, ‘That’s a big mountain, I can’t draw that.’ But if you look through a frame, it’s limited and you can manage it. I ask people to do three views: a horizon, a midrange and something really small, like a tight shot of a flower or a branch.”

The three-mile walk is intended for all ages and abilities. Hikers stop at different lookouts to sketch with their own materials or the pads and pencils Goetz provides at no charge.

Debra Shinto, a Carlsbad resident, attended the walk last month.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Shinto said. “I’m not an artist. What surprised me was the way we looked at the scenery. It’s just the idea of being more aware of where we are and taking the time to look at the beauty of nature.”

Along the trail, Goetz will pull out a bigger frame and drop it on the ground. A collage of wildflowers, patches of green grass and bits of stone are caught within its boundaries.

“There is all this life,” Goetz said. “There is such variety within a little square.”

When she isn’t leading Daley Ranch hikes, Goetz, 52, is a special-education teacher’s aide at Valley Middle School in Carlsbad. Her twin girls are now in their 20s, but she has fond memories of their art enrichment classes.

“Walking and drawing is so centering, so calming,” Goetz said, who doesn’t have artistic training. “If you are looking closely enough to draw something, you really have to pay attention to details. You start noting similarities and differences.”

The monthly “Walk and Draw” starts at 3:15 today ﻿and later this month, for the first time, Goetz will lead a “Walk and Write” on Feb. 18. It’s a slower-paced journey of about three miles. Guests are encouraged to write haiku, or three-line poems, inspired by the surroundings.

“I call it guerrilla poetry,” Goetz said. “It’s the natural world and your response to it.”